EHF European Cup Men round 2 set after thrilling opening week

• on Thursday, Maccabi Rishon Le Zion beat Pallamano Conversano 32:25 in their reverse fixture of a double-header in Italy; the first leg ended in a thrilling 34:34 draw

• Maccabi’s duo on the wing was crucial for the Israeli side: right wing Yermiyahu Sidi scored 18 goals over both ties and Nadav Nizri added 16 more from the other side

• two teams from Luxembourg qualified for the next round: HC Berchem beat MRK Sutjeska 34:31 in their second leg in Luxembourg, after winning the first leg in Montenegro by one goal (31:30); Handball Esch also progress to round 2, after beating GRK Tikves 61:59 on aggregate (30:27 and 31:32) in a double-header in North Macedonia

• Istanbul GSK and GS Drama 1986 booked their places for round 2 in similar fashion, losing the second leg after winning the first leg at home; Istanbul could afford a three-goal loss against Vilnius VHC Sviesa (31:34), after winning the first leg by seven goals (44:37); the Greek side lost by one goal to RK Budvanska Rivijera (24:25), after an eight-goal victory at home last week

• another Greek team in round 2 will be Ionikos A.C N.F., who beat KH Besa Famgas 61:47 on aggregate (29:22 and 32:25); 19-year-old goalkeeper Rafail Kotzias Stamou impressed in the second leg, making seven saves for a 43.75 per cent save percentage

• Polish side Netland MKS Kalisz and former EHF Challenge Cup winners AHC Potaissa Turda booked their tickets to round 2 after victories against Handball Brno and RK Konjuh Zivinive, respectively; Kalisz went through by an aggregate score of 53:46, after an early scare in the second leg; Turda had problems for 35 minutes of the second leg, but managed to turn the match around and progress by winning 50:44 on aggregate

• RK Dubocica 54 from Serbia narrowly squeezed past Austrian side Alpla HC Hard; after a thrilling 34:33 home win in the first leg, Dubocica won the second leg 34:32 despite a late comeback from Hard at home

• HC Fivers WAT Margareten dominated both ties against Giresunspor and progress to the second round with an 87:55 aggregate win (40:28 and 47:27); the Austrian side had 14 different goalscorers across both matches, with left wing Leon Breit being top scorer with 13 goals

Granitas-Karys celebrate impressive turnaround

To come back from a four-goal defeat in the first leg in the European Cup is impressive in itself. However, doing so by scoring 10 more goals than eight days earlier, while also conceding fewer than 20 goals, makes it even more impressive.

That was what Granitas-Karys achieved on Sunday afternoon in Lithuania. Their trip to Cyprus last weekend ended in a 21:25 defeat by PAC Omonoia 29M. Fast forward eight days later, with 31:19 on the scoreboard.

There were two keys to this impressive turnaround: shot efficiency and goalkeeping. After scoring on only 46 per cent of their shots in the first leg, Granitas-Karys improved this statistic to 54 per cent. An even bigger factor was the goalkeeping performance. Last week, the duo of Oskaras Jasudas and Ignas Maciulevicius combined for eight saves (24 per cent). In the return leg, Jasudas collected 17 saves (47 per cent) and helped his team secure their ticket for the second round.

Main photo © Evaldas Semiotis